Name Norman Allin Died 1973 | Role Bass Albums Norman Allin | |
Similar People Heddle Nash, Isobel Baillie, Robert Easton, Walter Widdop, Elsie Suddaby |
Norman allin 1931
Norman Allin (19 November 1884 – 27 October 1973) was a British bass singer of the early and mid twentieth century, and later a teacher of voice.
Contents
- Norman allin 1931
- Demonstration of the emg mk iv norman allin harold williams
- Early studies
- Operatic career
- Concert and oratorio
- Teaching career
- Recordings
- Songs
- References
Demonstration of the emg mk iv norman allin harold williams
Early studies
Allin was born in Ashton-under-Lyne in 1884. He studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music under John Acton (singing) and Walter Carroll (theory). He wed the singer Edith Clegg in 1912 and went to London, where the conductor Sir Henry Wood heard him and planned to involve him in the 1914 Norwich Festival. The festival was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. However, Allin did sing the Handel aria "O ruddier than the cherry", from Acis and Galatea, at a Promenade Concert for Wood during the war.
Operatic career
Sir Thomas Beecham auditioned him and at once offered him the title role in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, but Allin felt a less challenging debut was needed. So, his first appearance for Beecham was as the Old Hebrew in Samson et Dalila on 15 October 1916. With the Beecham Opera Company he appeared, too, in Verdi's Aida. He first sang at a Royal Philharmonic concert, again under Beecham's baton, in 1918. He later appeared as Boris, as Gurnemanz in Wagner's Parsifal, Hagen in Wagner's Gotterdammerung and Baron Ochs in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In 1921, he became a founder-member of the British National Opera Company.
Allin created the role of Sir John Falstaff in Holst's 1925 opera At the Boar's Head. In 1934, he appeared in the initial Glyndebourne Festival production under Fritz Busch and Carl Ebert of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro.
Concert and oratorio
Allin was perhaps best known to contemporary music-goers as a concert recitalist and an oratorio singer. He appeared before the Royal Philharmonic Society in a Royal Choral Society Beethoven Missa Solemnis in 1927 under Sir Hugh Allen. In 1932, after giving his 270th performance of Handel's Messiah, at a Halle concert, he decided not to sing the part again.
He always gave the greatest satisfaction when he sang in music festivals, and Wood felt that he could trust him with anything. He was one of the soloists in the original line-up for Vaughan Williams's Serenade to Music on 5 October 1938. Allin's line goes down to low D; the words set for his solo are 'The motions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus.' He was also in the performance of the piece for the Royal Philharmonic Society, on behalf of the Musicians' Benevolent Fund, in February 1940.
Teaching career
In 1934 he took part in a seven-month operatic tour in Australia, appearing mainly in Melbourne and Sydney. On his return he was offered a professorship of singing at the Royal Academy of Music, and took it up in autumn 1935. Later he also accepted a similar appointment at the Royal Manchester College, which he held jointly with the other, only resigning the Manchester post in 1942 owing to pressure of work in London.
Recordings
Norman Allin recorded for Columbia Records. His recording career lasted from circa 1916 to circa 1940. Many of his titles were cut twice, first acoustically and then, after 1925, electrically.
Among the acoustic recordings was an early best-seller, the 10" record of Bruno Huhn's 'Invictus' (to words of W. E. Henley) coupled with Coningsby Clarke's 'The Blind Ploughman'. This was re-made electrically. Examples of his operatic and concert titles are:
Allin died, aged 88, at Pontrilas.
Songs
Serenade to Music - Conducted by Vaughan Williams - 1951: Serenade to Music
Father O'Flynn
Rocked In The Cradle Of The Deep
The Twilight Of The Gods: Hagen's Watch
The Midnight Review
Simon The Cellarer
Invictus
The Twilight Of The Gods: Hagen's Call
The Tempest: Act II - Arise - Ye Subterranean Winds
Fidelio: Life Is Nothing Without Money
Where Be You Going?
The Magic Flute: Within This Hallowed Dwelling
2 Gesange - Op 51 - TrV 206: No 2 Der Einsame
The Jewess: Tho' Faithless Men
Edward
The Organ Grinder
As I Sit Here
Roll On - Thou Deep And Dark Blue Ocean
Death And The Maiden
Philemon And Baucis: Vulcan's Song
Myself When Young